Tag: Will Richard

Todd Golden, Will Richard talk Florida’s narrow win over South Carolina

Here’s what Todd Golden and Will Richard had to say after Florida escaped Columbia with a 1-point win over South Carolina.

It was almost a devastating loss for Florida basketball on Wednesday night, but thanks to some second-half heroics that included a massive last-minute push, the Gators escaped Columbia with a 70-69 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Until the final seconds of the game, the Orange and Blue were unable to grab the lead, trailing for the entire 39-plus minutes prior. The first half was a weird one that saw [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag]’s gang shoot fairly well but still found themselves on the short end of the stick at halftime; the second half saw the team turn up the intensity enough to prevail in the end.

Following the win, Golden and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] — who finished tied for the game-high in points with 22 — spoke to the media about what transpired on Wednesday night.

Todd Golden’s opening statement

“Obviously, I’m thrilled to be able to sneak out of here with a win. I thought South Carolina played very well. I thought they controlled the game. I thought they were the more physical team. I thought they hit big shots and stepped up in big moments. They played a very good game.

“I am very proud of our guys, though, for staying the course. Obviously, being down 14 with 12 minutes to go, it wasn’t looking great, but our guys were able to execute defensively and turn them over a little bit and then step up and hit some big shots.

“I thought Will Richard was fantastic tonight, thousandth point in a Gator uniform as he finished that layup to give us the lead. He’s a guy that’s been battling through some injuries and continues to put the team first.

“I’m really proud of him for a moment like that, late in the game, being able to make the game-winning basket down the stretch. But again, great respect for Lamont (Paris) and South Carolina. They’re much, much better than their record indicates in conference play.”

On going into full-court press

“Obviously, just with Thomas being out, they don’t have as much depth in the backcourt as they usually do. Jacobi played a lot of minutes, and our hope was we’d be able to wear him and their team down a little bit and didn’t really feel like we did.

“But the press definitely bothered them. We turned them over quite a bit in the second half. We got 13 steals. A lot of those were live-ball turnovers that allowed us to get layups and threes. Honestly, I probably should’ve went to it a little earlier.

“Not something that we do a lot, but again, our guys were able to execute out of a timeout, and we just stuck with it for the rest of the game.”

On sticking with it despite being down 14

“We came out at halftime down seven and thought we were playing better in the second half, but we were not making many shots. We missed some that we normally make.

“I thought their physicality around the rim really, really bothered us. And even though we were playing better, the deficit was going the wrong way for us. Again, this is the benefit of having such a mature, veteran backcourt, having guys that aren’t going to get too rattled regardless of the circumstance. We just talked about one possession at a time. We’re not going to get back in this game playing hero ball. We’re not going to get back in this game gambling and allowing them to get layups and dunks.

“The big thing that I thought we were able to do was, obviously bother them with the full-court press, but if they did break it we only gave up one or two cheap baskets out of it. We were able to get back and get our defense set and force them into some tougher possessions.

“Obviously, that was a huge part of it. Will specifically, it’s just been awesome being with him for these three years. As you know, he was the first guy that committed to us when we got the job, and he embodies what we want this program to be about. He’s a great young man, is going to graduate from Florida, and he continues to get better and better as a basketball player. He’s become a much more complete player this year, and his offense was on full display tonight, specifically in the second half.”

On Alijah Martin’s big plays down stretch

“Listen, all three of those guys – Walt (Clayton), Will (Richard) and A-Mart – are gamers. Those guys are confident dudes. They all want the ball in their own hands in big moments, and they’re not afraid to take the big shot. Will’s hammer three was huge, and then A-Mart’s and-one was huge.

“Walt made some great plays tonight, had seven assists, 16 points, four rebounds. It’s a luxury to have those three guys in the backcourt, and then Denzel (Aberdeen) I thought gave us some big minutes off the bench, had some steals in the second half (with) some offense created off that. But they’re very good players, and they stepped up in a game that we didn’t have our best.”

Will Richard on the end-of-game events

“I was just trying to be aggressive. I knew we were down one. The play was to get me a little slip three or get Walt a layup, but I saw the (defender) close out a little hard and I went. (Alex) Condon did a great job of ducking, and I just had to do a great job of finishing it.”

On value of wins like this

“It’s big for us. It’s always hard to win an SEC game, let alone one on the road. It’s big for us and good for confidence knowing we’re a resilient team and can bounce back no matter what.”

Next up for Florida

The Gators return home to host the Georgia Bulldogs on Saturday, Jan. 25 inside the O’Connell Center. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on the SEC Network.

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Top takeaways as Florida survives South Carolina scare on the road

Winning on the road in the SEC is never easy, but Florida trailed until the final moments on Wednesday against South Carolina.

Florida didn’t lead until there were 4.3 seconds left in Wednesday night’s win over the South Carolina Gamecocks, but all the wins count the same in the record books. The Gators moved to 17-2 on the season and 4-2 against the conference with the 70-69 victory.

[autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] led all scorers with 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting, including three makes in five attempts from 3-point range. [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr.[/autotag] and [autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] weren’t as efficient as usual but contributed 16 and 14, respectively.

South Carolina guard Zachary Davis matched Richard with 22 points, 18 of which came in the second half. Davis made more than half of the Gamecock’s buckets after the break, while forward Collin Murray-Boyles delivered 11 of his 14 in the first.

The big story in the stat book is Florida getting outrebounded in the second half. The Gators are the best rebounding team in the country, but all four of the bigs were neutralized.

A weird first half

Florida didn’t shoot that poorly in the first half to be trailing by seven at the break. Six turnovers are concerning, but the team shot 45% from the field and 30% from three. A lack of opportunities from the free-throw line might explain a dip in points, but South Carolina only shot two in the first half as well.

The Gamecocks shot a strong 50% from the field with a similar 33% from 3-point distance in the first half. The difference on the scoreboard felt much larger than a pair of missed free throws, one 50-50 ball and a 3-pointer falling. Even the rebounding numbers were eerily similar, with Florida finishing with one more offensive board and the same amount on the defensive glass.

Being on the road against an SEC team is a handicap, even if it’s one of the worst teams by record in the conference. Florida had to battle back against the crowd and the players, and two of its top scorers were adjusting for most of the first half.

Turnovers matter

Those six turnovers in the first mattered for Florida, and so did the 12 from South Carolina after halftime. The Gators switched to a fullcourt press in the second half and forced multiple turnovers on the inbound play to chip away at a 14-point lead by the Gamecocks.

The last of South Carolina’s five turnovers in the final six minutes of the game lost them the game. Martin poked the inbound pass into Thomas Haugh’s hands and ran a makeshift give-and-go to draw the foul and tie the game up at 69 apiece.

Davis made just one of two free throws on the other end, and Richard took over on Florida’s final possession to go up by two with four seconds left.

Phew…

Wins are wins but this Gators team hasn’t played up to par in consecutive games since the calendar turned over to 2025. Maybe the Kentucky game shouldn’t be considered a bad showing, but it was certainly an ugly night for what’s supposed to be a top-25 defense in the country.

If Florida had won the Missouri game along with this one, there would be an argument against regression. The Gators appear unprepared to face opponents in expected wins unless there’s a number next to the program name on the schedule.

It’s not a physical thing. It’s mental, and something has to change over the next six weeks if Florida is going to win an SEC Tournament and national championship.

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Todd Golden talks Florida’s win at Arkansas along with pair of players

Here’s what the representatives for the Gators had to say after their win at the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.

Saturday evening’s win in Fayetteville was a big one for Florida basketball as it earned its first road victory in Southeastern Conference play this season against the Arkansas Razorbacks, 71-63.

The Hogs put up a noble fight but the Gators were able to grind out a Quad 1 win in a game that saw both teams produce season-low offensive outputs in the opening half. Three of the visitors fouled out in this one while one of the home squad did as well.

Regardless of how it played out, a win is a win and the Orange and Blue are now 15-1 overall and 2-1 in conference play. [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] addressed the media after the game, while [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] also chimed in.

Todd Golden’s opening statement

“Huge win. Huge win for us. I think we were fighting a little bit of human nature after Tuesday night – great win for us, and we were a little fatigued both emotionally and physically.

“I was a little worried about how we would be able to respond against a team that was awfully hungry and competitive. Early on, obviously we struggled a little bit, but our guys were pretty resilient. I thought we fought. We weren’t perfect, but we competed well enough to win.

“We rebounded when we needed to. I thought we did a great job protecting the rim, which was a huge part of our scout today and stepped up and knocked down some big shots. Alijah (Martin) hit that big three in the second half, then Condo’s (Alex Condon) pop-three, in my opinion, iced the game. I think that was 1:23 left to get us up 12.

“We had multiple really good efforts. One guy I want to highlight is Sam Alexis. I thought he stepped up remarkably tonight, gave us great minutes off the bench to give us six (points) and seven (rebounds) and play a really solid game was huge for us.”

Golden’s halftime message

“We didn’t handle their pressure very well, but I thought we left some points out there behind the 3-point line. We were 3-for-16 in the first half from three. I thought we got some really good looks that we didn’t knock down. As we talked at half, again, it was, “Continue to take care of the ball.”

“We had two swing plays – pick-sixes that led to layups for them. But we thought if we just stayed the course that we’d be all right, and we stepped up and obviously scored 43 in the second half, so we were much better that way.”

Golden on Sam Alexis stepping up, feeling good

“As he should. We talked about if we’re going to reach our goals of being an elite team and playing deep into March, we need different guys to step up on different nights. He had an extended opportunity tonight with all the foul trouble we were playing through.

“To his credit, there was no drop-off when he was in the game. This was the first time where we’ve played a really good opponent in a big game where I thought he looked like he felt comfortable. He did everything we asked him to do. I thought he was super aggressive getting 50-50 rebounds. I thought he did a great job initiating our offense out of the elbow.

“I told him after the game, if we continue to get him playing better and better, it’s obviously going to make us pretty tough.”

Condon on weathering a slow start

“We came out and started the game a bit slow. The energy we came out with in the second half, finding open guys and getting to the free throw line, it was a lot better in the second half than the first.”

Richard on playing in foul-plagued game

“You have to read the game, see how refs are calling it, then pick your spots. There were parts during the game they were calling stuff and parts of the game when they weren’t, so you just have to play smart.”

Next up for Florida

The Gators return home to host the Missouri Tigers on Tuesday, Jan. 14. Tipoff is slated for a late 9 p.m. ET start and the game will be broadcast on ESPNU.

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Three takeaways from Florida basketball’s blowout win over UNF Ospreys

If there were any concerns about a trap game or two for Florida basketball at the end of the calendar year, a 54-point win over UNF on Saturday squashed it.

Florida basketball broke out with a 10-0 run against North Florida on Saturday and never looked back. The Gators led for all 40 minutes, held a 37-point lead at the half and won 99-45 at the final buzzer.

Complete dominance.

[autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] led all scorers with 26 points on 9 of 12 shooting, including six three-pointers. He outscored UNF in the first half, 18-5. Sam Alexis, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh also reached double figures, including a double-double from Alexis.

Florida dominated every statistical category, beating UNF by 40 rebounds, 38 points in the paint, 27 points off the bench, 19 second-chance points and 11 assists.

Not a trap game

After a pair of tough Quadrant 1 wins, the fear becomes falling into a so-called trap game. Not for these Florida Gators, though. The Orange and Blue were happy to get back to O’Connell Center and treated the fans to a near-perfect win.

Florida has won plenty of games by 20-plus and even has a 30-point win on its resume, but a 40-point win is uncharted territory for the Gators. Todd Golden has his squad playing complementary basketball and winning in different ways each time out. Sometimes it’s the guards, sometimes it’s the bigs. In both cases, Florida finds a way to dominate its opponent.

The Gators have one more non-conference matchup on the schedule, a home game against Stetson on Dec. 29. Assuming another dominant win, Florida will be 13-0 entering SEC play, and they have to feel like they can compete with some of the best teams in the country moving forward.

Teams such as Auburn, Kentucky and Tennessee may be ranked ahead of Florida right now, but that can change in a hurry if Golden gets this group to play the same way in January.

Will Richard getting hot

The three-headed monster in Florida’s backcourt takes turns having big games, and today was Richard’s to go off. He scored 26 and shot 6 of 8 from three-point range while adding five rebounds and three assists over 21 minutes.

Richard finding a consistent stroke from deep is the best thing that can happen for this club. As a sophomore, he made a name for himself shooting just under 40% from three but wasn’t as sharp a year ago. Starting off the season shooting 25% through the first 10 games sparked some worry, but Richard has found his shot over the past two games making 9-of-13 (69.2%) against North Carolina and UNF.

Florida has to be eyeing the NCAA Tournament at this point, and Richard might be the biggest key to a deep run in March. Walter Clayton Jr. is a pure scorer and Alijah Martin has the experience and leadership to guide the team through the Big Dance, but Richard’s streaky shot is the make-or-break division of this roster.

Let the kids play

Blowout games like this allow young players to get more minutes, and Florida got to play first-years Urban Klavzar and Isaiah Brown for some solid minutes.

Klavzar has looked pretty rough since joining the team, but he’s still adjusting from the European style and was kept away from the program while sorting out his eligibility. Those are big hurdles to overcome, but it’s clear that he’s a strong passer and can drive the line well. He’s still looking for his outside shot; once he finds it, Klavzar will be a legitimate threat in Florida’s backcourt alongside Denzel Aberdeen off the bench.

Brown shows flashes of scoring ability, but he’s simply not on the court enough to really emerge as a significant piece of Florida’s rotation. He looks like a potential wing replacement for Martin and Richard next year, though, and it’s good for him to get 10 minutes in games like this to find his footing.

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Todd Golden and Florida’s Big 3 talk win over Arizona State

Florida has proved itself as one of the best teams in college basketball through 10 games. Here’s what Todd Golden and his Big 3 said after their most recent win.

Florida basketball moved to 10-0 on the season Saturday with a dominant win over a good Arizona State team.

Head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] and his three star guards — [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]., [autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] — spoke to the media after the win and touched on the team’s undefeated start, the contribution of the frontcourt and the increased emphasis on defense this season.

Here’s everything they said.

Opening Statement

Golden: Really proud of our players. I thought they did an incredible job of executing our game plan. (Assistant coach) John Andrzejek had the scout tonight, and I thought he did a wonderful job preparing our players. But then you have to go out and execute it, and Arizona State’s really good. So, for us to be able to do it at such a high level was impressive.

I thought we played well both halves. I thought in the second half we did a great job letting our defense lead us to transition and we were able to get in some spurts — getting some steals, getting some runouts, getting some dunks, and I thought our depth showed up really well tonight.

Sam (Alexis), Tommy (Haugh), Zel (Aberdeen) coming off the bench, providing great minutes. I just think our depth wore them down a little bit. But really proud of our players for the way we played and another really good win for us.

On improved 3-point shooting

Golden: Our whole mentality is we want to be really disciplined defensively, and we want to play with a lot of freedom on offense. It’s “to whom much is given, much is required,” and I think our guys have a good feel and understanding for that. And we were locked in defensively.

We held them to 37 (percent) from the field, guarded the three really well all night and getting those stops and then you get out in transition, you get to play in the open court. Obviously, we have really talented scorers and shooters, and our perimeter can really get going. But, yeah, I feel like our guys played with great freedom offensively today and that led to us having a really good night.

On sustained success for program, 10-0 start

Golden: We’re getting great efforts from multiple guys. We have good players, and they bought into each other, they play hard for each other and there’s no selfishness on this team right now. I think that’s a huge, huge key for our success up to this point but also moving forward, and we talk about it a lot.

I think it’s easier when you have three seniors that kind of lead you in that perimeter and have a great understanding that they can all have success at the same time. Or if they don’t, then it could be their night the next night. We’ve had that all year. Will scored 25 in a game, A-Mart scored 30 in a game, Walt scored 30 in a game. That unselfishness is contagious and for our younger guys, they look up to these guys playing together, and they can’t do anything other than that or they know they won’t be on the floor.

Our team has good chemistry. We have to continue it, though. It’s been good through 10; we’ve got to make sure it’s good on Tuesday night as well.

On the frontcourt

Golden: This group really complements each other very well. Our perimeter complements our frontcourt well and vice versa. I thought Rueben (Chinyelu) was really impactful defensively. I thought he did a great job on the glass. When you have a guy like Rueben that can guard Basheer Jihad and you don’t have to bring a double, it allows you to be solid and stay on the glass better.

Rueben, (Alex) Condo(n), Tommy, Sam, they’re all awesome players and they are all starter-level talents. Again, Sam and Tommy are coming off the bench, but they’re playing big-time minutes, they help us win every night and their time will come to be starters in our program. Just having that depth on the frontline makes us really tough.

Clayton: I don’t know if everybody really be knowing what Rueben, Condo, Tommy, all them guys. They’re down there banging all game. Just being physical, and a lot of physicality down low. It’s hard to do that for 40 minutes with them guys. Throughout the game, they’re just down there banging, banging, banging, and it gets to a point where the other team’s bigs break.

I appreciate our bigs, man. They do a lot for us.

On building on first-half lead

Golden: We didn’t finish the first half very well. To be honest, I thought we got content. We were up 13 or 15 and then didn’t play the end of the first half very well. We should have held for the last shot. We threw it ahead, got a jump ball that ended up basically being a turnover.

At halftime, we talked to our guys. We thought we did a good job shot making in the first half, but we didn’t think we played great in terms of finishing possession defensively and taking care of the ball. So we focused on those things in the second, as well as making sure we had another good effort on the glass.

We still had some turnovers, but for the majority of the half we played a really clean game and our defense was fantastic in the second half. We had five kills, which is three stops in a row, and holding Arizona (State) to under 40 from the field and under 30 from three is really tough to do.

Clayton: Just keep being physical, keep doing what we’re doing. They were going to break. We didn’t feel like they could hang with us the whole game, so just keep doing what you’re doing and wait for them to break.

On turning defense into offense

Martin: We’re just trying to focus more on the defensive end this year. We’ve got a very good offensive scheme and most teams aren’t going to be able to hang with us offensively, so if we get stops we’re just untouchable.

Clayton: It’s definitely taken a big step forward from last year. Last year, we were a great offensive team, bad defensive team. This year, I feel like we’re still a great offensive team, even better this year than last year because we’re turning so many defensive stops into buckets.

On three-point run at end of first half

Richard: just trying to be aggressive. We all put a lot of work in, put a lot of reps in. So, when we see those opportunities, we’ve got to take them and there were going in. It’s definitely good to get on a run like that.

Was Arizona State the best team you’ve faced this year?

Martin: It’s hard to say, but definitely a big shoutout to Arizona State. They’re a really good program. No discredit to any of the teams we’ve played, but that’s what good basketball looks like. Every night, it doesn’t matter who we’re playing

On preparing for North Carolina

Martin: Just knowing that we’re going into their territory. It’s going to be in North Carolina. They’re going to have a lot fans there. Just knowing it’s going to be a road and you’ve got to be strong mentally. These next upcoming practices, we’re going to have to really lock in and be strong mentally.

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Florida basketball dominates Arizona State in Atlanta for 10th-straight win

That’s 10 straight for the Florida Gators basketball team, who defeated Arizona State, 83-66, on Saturday in Atlanta.

Florida basketball moved to 10-0 on the season with a 83-66 victory over Arizona State on Saturday. The 10-game win streak is Florida’s longest since a 30-game stretch in 2013-14.

The Sun Devils made things competitive for the first five minutes, but a 12-0 run by the Gators put UF out in front enough to never look back. Arizona State pulled the margin down to single digits a few times, but Florida always answered and led by 11 or more for the final 18 minutes of the contest.

[autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. led all scorers with 25 points on 8-of-18 shooting, including a few three-pointers from NBA range (5-of-13). [autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] added 15 points (6-of-10), 11 rebounds and six assists, and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] had 16 points (5-of-12), six rebounds and two assists.

Based on the current NET rankings, this is Florida’s first Quadrant 1 victory of the season, which should come in handy come Selection Sunday. Arizona State must ranked inside the top 50 throughout the season — currently No. 35 — to remain a Q1 opponent on a neutral court.

Big 3 dominates for Florida

The trio of Clayton, Martin and Richard nearly outscored Arizona State with a combined 56 points. Todd Golden has talked about the benefits of having three elite scoring guards on the roster in the past, but it’s a rare occasion to see all three of these guys light it up on the same night.

Those kinds of performances are necessary for a team looking to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament, and it’s encouraging to see it come against a Power Four opponent that’s ranked inside the top 100 nearly everywhere. The next challenge is replicating this kind of output against an SEC team.

Martin also recorded Florida’s second double-double of the season with 11 rebounds and added six assists. The only blemish on Florida’s big three are the six turnovers by Richard.

Defense, defense, defense

As good as Florida’s offense is, the defense might have been more impressive against ASU on Saturday. The Gators held the Sun Devils to 66 points and shut down five-star freshman Joson Sanon, who scored just five points after averaging nearly 16 on the season — and three of those came in garbage time against Florida’s backups.

Arizona State shot just 37% from the field and 28% from three-point range.

Florida has outscored opponents by 211 points over its first 10 games and has only allowed two teams to score more than 68 points — Florida State (74) and South Florida (83).

Golden stressed the importance of improved defense at the beginning of the season, and the Gators seem to get better on the side of the ball with each week.

Bigs don’t need to score to impact the game

Focusing on the negatives isn’t particularly useful after another big win, but it’s notable that Florida was able to dominate this matchup without a big scoring day from its frontcourt star, Alex Condon.

It was clear from an early point in the game that Condon didn’t have his touch around the rim, but he impacted the game with eight rebounds and a block.

The rest of the frontcourt followed suit. Rueben Chinyelu also grabbed eight boards to help Florida out-rebound Arizona State, 47-27, and Thomas Haugh was a nice defensive presence off the bench. Sam Alexis had some success around the rim, scoring eight for Florida, including an alley-oop slam late in the second half.

Good teams can’t rely on one guy to lead, and Florida continually proves that it has depth at every position.

Next up for Florida

The Gators head to Charlotte, North Carolina, to face the North Carolina Tar Heels on Tuesday, Dec. 17. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET and the game will be broadcast on ESPN.

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Todd Golden breaks down Florida basketball win vs. FAMU

Florida beat FAMU by 24 points on Tuesday, but there are many areas where head coach Todd Golden would like to see his team improve. Here’s everything he said after the win.

Florida basketball is 5-0 to start the season, but head coach [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] wasn’t happy with his squad’s second-half effort against Florida A&M on Tuesday night.

“Look, I thought we played really well in the first half,” Golden opened his post-game press conference. “I thought we did a good job to get a 24-point lead, and I just thought in the second half we let our foot off the gas a little bit. Stylistically, I thought offensively we played pretty well.

“Obviously, we did not shoot it well. We missed 15 threes and I thought we allowed that to affect our defense a little bit in the second half, and we just fouled way too much on the defensive end — sent them to the line 19 times in the second half.”

Moving forward, the goal is to put forth a more competitive effort for the entirety of the game, starting with Friday’s matchup.

“Like I talked about with the guys in the locker room, our expectation is to be able to play two complete halves, play 40 minutes. I thought tonight, we played 20 really good minutes in the first half and then we were just okay in the second. A lot to improve upon. We’ll have some good film to break down tomorrow with the guys as we prepare for Southern Illinois on Friday.”

Florida has struggled to jump out to early leads the season, especially within the first five minutes of the game.  The Gators have not trailed at any point this season by the 15-minute mark of the first half, but they’ve only jumped out ahead early against Grambling State — tied against South Florida, up three against Jacksonville, up six against Grambling State, up one against Florida State and up four against FAMU

“I think we come out with the right mentality,” he said. “We haven’t played our best in the first four minutes. We did win the first mini-game. I think we were up 7-6, or whatever it was, but sometimes it does take you a couple possessions to get in the flow and to get comfortable. But I do believe our mentality was good and we had the right spirit about us coming out. We just didn’t play our best until kind of the middle of the first half.”

Strong finishes to each half

Despite the slow start to each half, Golden praised his team for putting a better effort together in the final minutes on both sides of the break.

“I was pleased with both (finishes to each half) for different reasons,” he said. “In the first half, to be able to extend (the lead) to 24 on a 19-2 run was awesome. Different guys stepped up and helped us create that lead. We challenged our guys (in the second half).

“The last eight minutes we were getting after them pretty good because we have bigger goals. Making sure we’re competitive for all 40 and not letting ourselves off the hook.

“In that last mini-game, we challenged them and said, ‘Listen, we’re not satisfied with how this game is ending right now. We have to find a way to spread it out a little bit,’ and we did. Again, we want to more complete, but in those specific situations, I thought we did a good job.”

Golden praises veteran leaders

The returning duo of [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] have helped keep the team level through these first five games, and Golden added FAU transfer [autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] into that group as well.

“I’d throw Alijah in there, too. He had 14 (points), nine (rebounds) and four (assists), no turnovers. Those guys, as you all know, we built this team with those three guys being the main cogs on the perimeter and guys we play off of and lead us with their veteran leadership and their experience,” he said.

“All three of those guys have scored 1,000 points in college, all are great shooters, tough, physical defenders and guys that understand how to win.”

Golden added that being able to rely on that trio allows him to make adjustments on the fly, even if it means giving them more minutes in a game that should be able to go to the backups.

“It gives you a lot of confidence as a coach to be able to rip those guys out there. When we’re at our best, they’re just playing, right? Like we’re getting stops, we’re getting clean rebounds and we’re getting out in transition and they’re just making plays.

“I had to play them a little more than I wanted to tonight to be able to make sure that we finished the game the right way but, yeah, it gives you a lot of comfort as a coach when you’re able to roll those guys out there.”

Martin stepped up in particular against FAMU, which speaks to his competitive nature as a player.

“It’s one of his best qualities, his competitiveness and his maturity in the way he attacks it,” Golden said. “First of all, he knows what winning is, playing in the Final Four (a year ago), and to have someone like him on the floor with Will and Walt that has that kind of mentality — this is all three of those guys’ last rip, and so the way they compete on a daily basis is really important.

“Alijah’s a guy that, regardless of what the score is, he’s going to compete at a high level. He’s not always going to be perfect, but he’s a guy I’d always want on my team. He’s always going to play the game the right way. I’ve seen his floor game improve dramatically since he’s been with us — another four-assist, zero-turnover night tonight. He’s just becoming a really complete basketball player this year.”

Thomas Haugh stepping up

With Sam Alexis out, [autotag]Thomas Haugh[/autotag] played a season-high 28 minutes against Florida A&M. He made an argument for increased playing time by breaking the double-digit barrier in points and forcing a handful of turnovers.

“He’s the definition of a winning player,” Golden said. “He does all the quote-unquote little things that impact winning. He’s a guy that can switch defensively, he’s a very good rebounder, a really good ball mover and facilitator on the offensive end and he hit a couple shots tonight. Twelve (points), seven (rebounds), I guess two assists and three steals, he just finds ways to impact (the game). Plus-23 in 28 minutes.

“Without having Sam, without having Denzel (Aberdeen), obviously our bench was shortened and we needed a guy like Tommy to step up and play more minutes and we knew he’d be up to the task. He’s fantastic. He comes to play and compete every day, and he generally gives us a better chance to win when he’s on the floor.”

Other players stepping up off the bench

With Haugh taking the bulk of the extra minutes in the frontcourt, Golden split Aberdeen’s minutes between freshman [autotag]Isaiah Brown[/autotag] and first-year sophomore [autotag]Urban Klavzar[/autotag], who recently was cleared by the NCAA to play this season.

“I though Urby played well, he just didn’t shoot well,” Golden said. “I thought he played hard, I thought he defended well, had a good floor game with three assists, zero turnovers. I think for him it’s just going to take a little bit to get comfortable playing at this level — just kind of getting thrown into the mix early in the season, but I was pleased with his effort. Obviously, we want him to make a couple more shots but I was pleased with his effort.

“I thought Zay was awesome. I thought he did a really nice job at the end of the first half taking advantage of the minutes that he got in the last mini-game. Hit those two big threes that really extended it to 24. Got a great defensive stop at the end of the first half. Kind of was put in a one-on-one situation in the middle of the floor, moved his feet and kind of used his physicality to force a turnover.”

With the aforementioned trio of guards in the starting rotation all set to move on from Gainesville after this season, Golden is eyeing Brown as a potential replacement in the backcourt for 2025-26.

“Zay Brown is a guy we believe will be a great player here at Florida and obviously has some really good ones in front of him right now but as early as next year, we think he can be an impact player in a big way. I was happy for him that he got to play a little more tonight and proud of him for taking the opportunity.”

Off night for Alex Condon

Preseason All-SEC forward Alex Condon scored 14 points in the win, but he shot 3 of 14 from the field. A 7 of 8 night from the free-throw line saved him and he remained effective on the glass with nine rebounds, but the poor shooting performance as him at a season-low 12.2 points per game.

“I think tonight was hopefully a little bit of an aberration,” Golden said. “He was shooting like 85% from two coming into this game and tonight just had some bad breaks. Credit to FAMU, I thought they bothered him around the rim. They blocked a couple of his shots and didn’t go for a couple of his pump fakes. He kind of got caught in no-man’s land. But Condo is always playing hard.

“He didn’t have his best game, his most efficient game, but he’s always playing hard and competing his tail off. Got on the glass, protected the rim again, got two steals so, again, he found ways to impact winning, he just did not finish tonight. Hopefully as we kind of prepare for SIU, I think he’ll be better on Friday night that way.”

Transition offense good, but could be better

Florida dominated the fast-break against FAMU, but the Gators still aren’t knocking down all of the open shots they’re creating, especially from distance.

“That’s kind of who we are,” Golden said. “We want to get out in transition and score early in the clock, and to win that battle, 30-4, is important. To be honest, I thought we should have done a little better, in terms of what we were able to do on the offensive end. I do think that when we go back and watch, we missed some really good looks from three. I thought we maybe took three quick ones or ones that weren’t great shots, but for the most part I think we got some really great catch-and-shoot looks that we just didn’t knock down.

“Playing the percentages, I do believe that will go in our favor here shortly, especially with the guys that are taking those shots. It just hasn’t gone that way for us, but fortunately we’ve still been able to wins.”

Drawing fouls a positive for Florida

Florida has attempted 25 or more shots from the free throw line in all but one game so far this weekend. With the three-ball not falling as frequently as the Gators would like, the ability to draw fouls consistently has helped Florida stay out in front in most games.

“When you’re not shooting the ball well, you can go through spells where you have a lot of empty possessions. When you’re able to get to the line, I feel like that settles you a little bit. We shot it decent from the line, about 70% tonight, but that’s the most efficient way to score. You get to the line, it’s about 1.4 points per possession. It’s a good way to maintain consistency and not allow teams to go on runs against you.”

On the flip side of that coin, Florida got in some foul trouble during the second half, which hurt its ability to extend the lead.

“To be honest, that’s why we were having so much trouble keeping FAMU down in the second half. We just let them get to the line 19 times, and to their credit, they made 85% of them. Our field-goal percentage on defense was great, 34 from the field, they only shot 24 from three, but that free-throw percentage for them was the equalizer and allowed them to play us even in the second half.”

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Three takeaways from Florida’s blowout win against FAMU

Florida took care of business Tuesday night against the FAMU Rattlers, with the Gators winning by 24 points despite a lackluster second half.

Florida (5-0) continues its undefeated start to the 2024-25 college basketball season Tuesday night with an 84-60 victory over the Florida A&M Rattlers (0-4).

The Gators came into the game favored by more than 30 points, even without two key members of the rotation, but a competitive second half kept the margin of victory at a clean two dozen. Guard Denzel Aberdeen and forward Sam Alexis missed the contest due to illness, opening the door for [autotag]Isaiah Brown[/autotag] and [autotag]Urban Klavzar[/autotag] to see some more action.

[autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] led all scorers with 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting (3-for-9 from distance) and added seven rebounds (five offensive) to his stat sheet. [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. trailed Richard with 17 points (7-for-13, 3-for-7 3PT) and five assists, but ended the night with four fouls.

[autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] (14 points) and [autotag]Thomas Haugh[/autotag] (12 points) both reached double figures, with the latter being one of three Gators to secure nine rebounds — the other being frontcourt starters [autotag]Rueben Chinyelu[/autotag] and [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag].

Florida’s early-season three-point struggles continued in the victory, but the Gators cleaned up their turnover problem a bit as a tradeoff.

Improved ball-handling

The biggest takeaway from the expected blowout comes from the turnover margin. Florida forced 15 turnovers and gave the ball up just seven times. Head coach Todd Golden came into Friday’s matchup against Florida State hoping for 12 or fewer turnovers but got 19 instead.

Although Florida A&M is not as competitive of a matchup as FSU, it’s a big positive to see Florida keep its giveaways in single digits against a lesser opponent.

Even more encouraging is seeing Clayton turn the ball over just once after back-to-back games with four. He’s working on distributing the ball more to impress NBA scouts, but players often rack up more turnovers while trying to pad the assists column in the scorebook. Clayton finished the night with five assists, his second-best figure of the season after a seven-assist outing against Jacksonville.

Increased minutes for Brown, Klavzar

With Aberdeen and Alexis out, Golden needed to spread out 35 minutes among his other players. Brown and Klavzar were the main benefactors of the extra time, but Haugh and Chinyelu also got some extra playing time in the frontcourt rotation.

Klavzar played 15 minutes and Brown saw eight, but the two guards played very different games. Klavzar played a distributor role, finding three teammates for assists, and struggled to shoot the ball, making just one of seven attempts and going 0-for-4 from three-point range.

Brown was far more efficient, draining both of his three-point attempts and hitting 3 of 4 shots from the free-throw line. With Florida set to lose all three of its starting guards after this season, it’s easy to see Klavzar fitting in at the ‘1’ and Brown at the ‘2’ if they continue to improve over the next year.

Second-half effort lacking

It’s hard to complain about a 24-point win, but Florida didn’t play its best basketball in the second half. It’s almost as if the Gators came out of the half content with the margin and allowed themselves to play a sloppier brand of hoops than Golden would have liked.

Florida fouled 12 times in the second half to just five in the first and shot 3-for-18 (16.7%) from deep after making 7 of 16 (43.8%) before the break. Even the turnovers came more frequently — two in the first half and five in the second.

In fact, the only column where the Gators improved after halftime was rebounds (27 to 20), and many of those came on the offensive end following errant shots.

This team hasn’t proven itself enough to get lazy. Expect Golden to address the issue in practice this week in hopes of getting a 40-minute effort on Friday against Southern Illinois.

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Instant takeaways from Florida basketball’s win against Florida State

Walter Clayton Jr. takes the Florida State rivalry personally and his 25 points helped the Gators come out on top against the Seminoles on Friday night.

Florida took down rival Florida State on the hardwood Friday night, 87-74, in a game that could have been a 20-point blowout but stayed within range until a pair of dagger threes in the final minutes.

[autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. led all scorers with 25 points, followed by [autotag]Alijah Martin[/autotag] with 17 and [autotag]Sam Alexis[/autotag] with 12 for Florida. Seminoles star Jamir Watkins scored 19, and three other Florida State players reached double figures.

The biggest difference between the two squads was the physicality Florida played with, made evident by an 18-rebound differential at the final buzzer. [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] missed his first double-double of the season by three points, but he dominated the boards all night.

Despite the 13-point margin on the scoreboard, Florida did not play its best basketball. The Gators turned the ball over 19 times, giving the Seminoles 16 points off turnovers. [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag] set a goal of 12 or fewer ahead of the game, and Florida made this game closer than it needed to be by exceeding that total.

Still, a win is a win, especially when it comes against Florida State — even though the Seminoles haven’t won this matchup since the 2020 season.

The Gators move to 4-0 on the season with a chance to close out the first month of the season undefeated. Florida A&M, Southern Illinois and Wake Forest remain on the schedule.

Walter Clayton Jr. likes playing Florida State

Clayton dropped 19 against Florida State last year and didn’t hold back when discussing his feelings on the Seminoles in the post-game press conference. He followed that performance up with a 25-point outburst, most of which (12) came during the bookends of the game.

A shoot-first guard, Clayton can take over games when he needs to for Florida. The Gators have several scoring options, but Clayton can stroke it from deep and drive the lane when the defense gives it to him. He’s also 12-of-13 this year from the free-throw line, which means there’s no way to stop him from scoring without forcing a turnover.

Against Grambling State and Jacksonville, Clayton seemed more focused on distributing the ball rather than scoring. Tonight, he wanted to outplay Watkins and lead his team to a convincing victory. His team-high plus-minus of 15 confirms he was the X-factor in this win.

Another dominant night on the boards

Florida State has some big bodies down low, and they play defense better than other teams Florida has seen this year. But the Seminoles were no match for the Gators on the boards.

Florida’s 47 rebounds against FSU are the most so far this season, surpassing the 45 grabbed against Grambling State at the beginning of the week. Condon is the biggest contributor, securing 11 defensive rebounds and one offensive. He simply out-physicals the other big bodies in the paint, and those 12 boards came over just 28 minutes.

Not to be forgotten is [autotag]Thomas Haugh[/autotag], who had five defensive rebounds and four offensive for a total of nine over 20 minutes off the bench. It’s a luxury for Todd Golden to be able to rotate these two in and out, and there’s really no need for them to see the floor at the same time except for the fact that they are best friends.

[autotag]Rueben Chinyelu[/autotag] matched his season-high with six rebounds (three defensive, three offensive), and all three starting guards — Clayton, Martin and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] — added five apiece to the team total. When you get that kind of production on the glass from your starting five, it’s pretty easy to find a path to victory.

Too many turnovers

The scary about wins like this for Florida is that the Gators aren’t playing their best basketball. Clayton, Condon and Chinyelu all turned the ball over four times, and Martin added three more. Urban Klavzar traveled on his first touch of the season, and Denzel Aberdeen threw the ball to waste a possession.

And the Gators still won by 13 points.

There’s no doubt that the turnover margin needs to be cleaned up, but there’s reason to be excited about a team that can overcome a 19-8 differential with relative ease.

Richard was the only starter without a turnover tonight and it’s because he’s not a primary ball handler. Clayton’s trying a little too hard to prove he can dish the rock, and Martin is the second option. With Klavzar in the mix, it might be wise to let him take the ball up more, but he only played five minutes tonight. Aberdeen is another option at the point.

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Three takeaways from Florida’s home-opening win over Jacksonville

The Gators looked sloppy at times, but it was a big night for Alex Condon on Monday as Florida moved to 2-0 with a win over Jacksonville.

Florida basketball took down Jacksonville, 81-60, in its home opener Thursday night.

Despite winning by more than 20 points, the victory was much sloppier than Florida’s season-opening win against South Florida on Monday. The two-headed monster of [autotag]Walter Clayton Jr[/autotag]. and [autotag]Will Richard[/autotag] combined for just 20 points on 9-for-20 shooting after putting up 50-plus three days ago.

The good news is two other starters, [autotag]Alex Condon[/autotag] and Alijah Martin, picked up the slack and carried the offense.

Jacksonville hung around a lot longer than it should have in this one, signaling there is still much work to do on defense for Todd Golden’s squad. Still, a win is a win, and the Gators are 2-0 heading into the weekend.

Career night for Condo

[autotag]Alex Condo[/autotag]n put up a career-high 23 points on 7-of-7 shooting from the field, including a pair of three-pointers. He got to the line often but only made seven of his 12 attempts. Most big men are looking for 70% at the stripe, and Condon has some touch for a 6-foot-11-inch guy.

Even with the poor performance from the stripe, Condon was dominant on offense. Securing just one rebound on the evening is another red flag, but it’s still early in the season. Condon added two blocks and two assists to fill up his stat sheet, though.

It’s not the most complete performance from Condon we’ll see this year, but it’s very good to know he can play without fouling — he committed zero after getting into early foul trouble Monday — and score when others aren’t.

Off night for Clayton?

Speaking of guys who didn’t score as much as expected, Walter Clayton Jr. was unusually quiet from the field for a guy who is considered Florida’s best scorer. Calyton only took eight shots, five of which came from deep. After sinking an early three, Clayton went cold, leading to a nine-point finish.

He had a nice poster dunk in the game’s final minutes to make the highlight reel, but Florida will be at its best when he’s scoring. With that said, it’s possible Clayton’s focus tonight was on distributing the ball. He finished the night with seven assists and just one turnover.

It wasn’t really an off night if you look at the big picture, but it’s not the style of play we’re used to seeing from Clayton.

Sam Alexis off the bench

After just two games with Florida, it appears that [autotag]Sam Alexis[/autotag] is an X-factor off the bench for the Gators. He has a bad habit of taking ill-advised deep shots, but his post-work and rebounding prowess more than make up for it.

It’s hard to see him moving into the starting lineup with Condon as the star in the frontcourt and Rueben Chinyelu playing that big-man role, but the latter has only played 35 minutes over two games. That leaves plenty of time for Alexis and Thomas Haugh to rotate in and out with him.

Alexis finished the night with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting (0-2 from deep) and seven rebounds (two offensive boards). He also rejected four shots over just 15 minutes on the court. That kind of efficiency on defense and the boards is going to get him more time in the rotation.

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